The Quilt Mathematician

 Maths is an essential tool in the making of a quilt.  You would think that all you have to do is to sew fancy patterns together and voila!  A quilt - not so.  Now that I have completed the central image, the next step is doing the patchwork blocks: patchwork stripes and courthouse steps, I believe.  The first thing which I have to do is to cut out lots and lots and lots of measured strips in a variety of fabrics.  Cutting out strips is really easy, as long as you have a rotary cutter, a quilter's non-slip ruler and a self-healing mat (I love the name, basically it is a mat which you can use a sharp blade on, the pizza-looking rotary cutter, and it doesn't score the surface) then Bob's your uncle!  Stage one completed: lots and lots (I do love the word) of inch and a half strips.

Combining the colours is hard but not impossible. As I told you all, I really went overboard in my buying of African fabrics: so overboard that I was drowning in them! Now is the time to put them all together to create something pleasing to the eye. Whilst cutting out the strip, I pondered on that problem; was everything going to be garish or would I be able to do it tastefully? The solution was to sew it up and see.

I combined shades together, keeping in mind that I am going to be working on two designs (I've also seen another which I do like called Seminole) and then sat at the sewing machine and produced endless strips and combinations of cloth.  Doing this really bring to mind that '80s advert for mashed potatoes; the aliens amusingly, then hilariously observe us humans peeling, boiling and mashing the potatoes and then combining it all back together again - I remember the punch line 'For mash get Smash!' - well doing patchwork is a bit like that.  You cut up endless pieces of cloth, sew it back together in some fashion, cut it up again and then sew it back together in a different fashion!!!   Some people do ask why, well the only answer that I can give is the satisfaction of creating something unique.  In this stage the important equipment is the cutting mat, rotary cutter, sewing machine and ironing board because a lot of cutting and putting back together goes on.  Overall I was very pleased with the finished effect: very nice!

Courthouse Step

Patchwork Stripes

After creating all those blocks my next job was to place it around the central image: where is my calculator!  I measured the central image and the patchwork stripes and calculated how many were going to fit around it, all good so far. This was working out a bit too perfect and alas, the inevitable, I was a bit short on the sides. This is why I say that you have to be a mathematician to be a quilter because you have to work out how everything will fit together and if they don't you have to factor in fillers like posts and sashings. Sashings are columns or strips of fabrics which separate individual blocks and posts are little squares which goes on the corners of these strips. The maths comes in when you have to calculate available space and the size in which to make these fillers which is not easy as a majority of patchwork blocks is calculated in inches (and I tend to work in both); then you have to find suitable fabrics for these posts and sashes and you are liable to end up buying even more fabric and I definitely have enough of that!

Patchwork and quilting is an expensive hobby as one is always buying: I've had to go out, back to Fabrics Galore, and buy extra fabric for my sashing and then had to change the colour combination as they had run out of the one which I had originally bought. And you know what the next sentence is going to be: I saw another bit of fabric which I really liked and could blend into the quilt, so being of weak purse - I bought it!

My maths skills is not great and I will do something about it this year - a maths course!  I had calculated how much space I had available, so I proceeded to make the fillers for it and attach them to the patchwork blocks, only to find that I was still short!  What had gone wrong?  Oh yes, I forgot to minus the seam allowances in my calculation!  Well, central image, you are now going to become a bit smaller because what I have just labouriously completed has to fit onto you and I ain't unpicking!

The words of wisdom.

The nearly completed central panel

WHAT! you say to yourself because you are really amazed and impressed that it was just yesterday that I posted the last blog and here I am today posting a new one of the fully completed central panel!  I must have worked all night to get it to this stage, you think to yourself!  Well, I must say that I did put in some hefty hours and you sewers know how it is; once you are way into a project, you only stop for desperate (really desperate, I mean walking disjointedly to the loo) toilet breaks and when it seems like your stomach has been disconnected from your mouth!

It is really satisfying to have completed the central image.  Sewing around the letters was a bit fiddley but I managed to achieve it all (then realize that I was missing a v) and have now assembled it all together.  I just have to decide how to attach it as I want a bit of movement in them; I don't want them to look too static.  Deciding on fabrics to use around the central image was hard as I had a lot to choose from (remember my fabric shopping spree!) but I managed.  Now I am going to concentrate on making the various patchwork blocks as all the hard work has been done.  Actually, maybe it hasn't, as I've got to decide which colours and prints to use - curse my fabric shopping tendency!  Do people like me call themselves Fabroholics!!  Do I need to go to Fabroholics Anonymous!!

Trapunto and Italian cording, and hand-stitching, here I come!

The best place to start a quilt is from the centre, I believe, so that is where I will start as the quilt has a central image. The central motif is what the quilt is all about and that has to be bold.  The Celtic knots which encase the image also has to be eye-catching but not fighting with the main image, so I have done then in colours which compliment each other and, as they are using similiar techniques (one trapunto and the other Italian cording) they will not clash.  The central image caused me no problem, but the Celtic knots!!!
First, I machined around the intricate knots, then halfway through (tell a lie, quarter way through) I discovered that it wasn't as easy to manipulate as I thought, there was a lot of stopping and starting and it didn't lay flat, so I gave up and rediscovered the joys of hand stitching.

Design ideas

Central Adinkra symbol and Celtic knots in various stages

Now with hand stitching one has to have the right size and comfortable needle, waxed thread and oh, a thimble is a must! The more you stitch, the more uniformed the stitches become.  It is one of the most calming activities which you can do - so if you have a demanding and stressful job/ life, take up hand-stitching.  Once all the hand-stitching is done then comes the threading of the wool for the Italian cording.  I bought a soft super chunky wool mix, but next time I think I would get something not so soft because all the pulling through of the wool through the narrow channels does add stress and makes it come apart.  Once I had finished all those 4 pieces, I was quite pleased with the results.  It gave me a sense of achievement to have finished the hardest part; I equate the sewing of strips to make my Roman Stripes and Courthouse Steps as easy.  I have also discoved another patchwork block which I quite like, but I am thinking 'how am I going to intergrate it with the others and will the quilt finish bigger than the given size?' 
I like projects which give me a challenge: the more complicated the project, the better I thrive.  The only thing which I don't want to do with this quilt is overwork it, so I have to occasionally step back and review what I have done.  Next step - the letters!

Love never loses its way home.

Do you like the title? It's also the Ghanaian translation of the title of my quilt. I have been having a lovely time shuffling pieces of papers around, drawing shapes, choosing colour schemes and designing my masterpiece but on the whole I have decided that ideas may not turn out as you want them to, so it's best to do a little bit at a time and see how patterns work together. My design is more or less decided on so now comes the hard bit - fabric shopping! I know that I have to visit some shops and look at colourways; this will probaly take longer than making the quilt!

Fabric shopping is the hardest part to making a quilt because you have to firstly decide on a colour scheme (choosing colours which work in harmony yet stands out and give your quilt that je ne sais quoi) then go out and buy and try not to get too distracted - that is very, very, very hard.

Day 1 Fabrics Galore - GOOD. I managed to choose the scheme, only got distracted by a vibrant green which I somehow convinced myself (the je ne sais quoi!) that it would work with the others when woven into the colour scheme; but overall did well.

Day 2 Wentworth Street - BAD. Got totally overwhelmed with so many colours, prints and patterns that I blew my budget (who was I fooling that I had one!) and had to visit the cash point for more money! Consequently ended up with much more material than I needed. I will have to sell some as fat quarters on Etsy! Wentworth Street is off Petticoat Lane and has 70% African fabric shops, so you can understand my dilemma.

Well at least I've bought the bulk of the fabric for the quilt, so now the making starts.

Another dilemma I've just realized is the delivery of the quilt to the Greenwich office: because of the Olympics the quilt has to be delivered at least one week earlier than said date to avoid the congestion of the opening ceremony! That leaves me how many weeks to complete? Seven!

The process has finally begun!

Yes, that time has come! After receiving comments from another person in the same position  as me (but much further on than me) and the application form, I took the time to go to the library, research some ideas and decide on the main symbol which I am going to use for my centre piece.  It really took a lot of motivation on my part to make an effort to set time aside to accomplish these things. I think what really gave me that final push was everyone asking "Have you started your quilt yet, you know time is getting on!". Yes, I am aware Of both, thank you all.

I can also say that the greatest motivator was completing the category form (rather the closing date): it wanted to know the size of the finished quilt, your inspirations, the techniques which will be used, how the quilt is going to travel and lastly, the name of your creation! All that really exhausted my skills, especially when I filled it in on the day before the closing! What other motivation could I possibly need!

I guess that you are all gasping to know what I have finally decided to do? Well, During my research, I saw the idea of putting words in relief on the quilt, which led me somehow to Celtic quilting (if you can see the connection, good for you!), which then got me interested in Celtic love knots. I think I love language in symbols and Adinkra and Celtic symbols carry spiritual and religious significance. So, my ideas are mainly around the idea of Adinkra symbol associated with love, Celtic love knots, words in relief and as part of a patchwork block, Kente cloth, courthouse step and woven patchwork! What a combination!  I bet you can't wait to see the finished result!  Should I say have your sunglasses at the ready?

Soon, I will start the actual sewing of the blocks. At the moment I am playing around with different combinations of pattern. I know that I want an earthy colour scheme: browns, golds, greens and one colour which is  striking and uplifting. The fabrics which I want to use are cotton and satin. I know that once I start sewing there will be no stopping me - I will be playing 'Ain't no stopping us now, we're on the move.' and I'll be in my groove!